


Amor Penguina

by budapestagain



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: 4x01, Angst with a Happy Ending, First Kiss, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Season/Series 04, nygmobblepot will be the death of me, unfreezing ed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 04:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12161679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/budapestagain/pseuds/budapestagain
Summary: " Jim’s right. It’s time. Time to bring Ed back.”After hallucinating Ed - his worst fear -, Oswald decides that enough is enough. He needs Ed back, no matter how Ed may feel about him.





	Amor Penguina

**Author's Note:**

> I'm such trash. I watched the episode like 2 hours ago and wrote this so its unbeta-ed and terrible.
> 
> BUT I feel so much hope for nygmobblepot. Like OSWALD CANONICALLY TALKS TO EDS FROZEN BODY. HOW??? IS?? THAT??? NOT??? LOVE????
> 
> ps. I love comments

Seeing Ed in that damn block of ice everyday was nightmarish enough but this was worse.

  Ed’s face swam before Oswald’s eyes and he screamed. That wasn’t Ed. Couldn’t be Ed. Because Ed had never looked at him like that before. With hatred and scorn and a lack of love. It made Ed at the docks seem positively cuddly.

 

_Never loved you. Never cared about you._

  Oswald screamed again, trying to block out his words but they just kept coming.

 

_Pathetic, unlovable child. Pathetic! Thinking I’d ever love you._

  Oswald struggled upwards, away from Ed’s frightening grin, and found himself collapsing into someone’s arms. “Help!” He screeched as Ed loomed ever closer.

 

_I was never your friend, Oswald. Never. Never._

 

  The word echoed around his mind and he screamed even louder. The arms tightened around him, holding him up as he almost fell to the ground. He heard his name being yelled and whispered and snarled.

 

 _Oswald, you’re pathetic. Look at you. Terrified because of your dead best friend_.

 

  “He could be dead,” Oswald whispered. The thought hadn’t occurred to him before. He’d always thought that, at some point, he’d unfreeze Ed and he’d still be alive. “He could be dead!” Oswald screamed, lashing out and struggling. He heard someone curse as he hit them but he still wasn’t falling to the floor. He was still being held up. He twisted round, ignoring Ed’s giggle from behind him, and saw Jim’s face. It blurred alarmingly as Oswald started crying but he still recognised Jim. Concerned, mildly irritated, confused. “He could be dead,” he told Jim calmly then passed out, screaming himself hoarse.

 

 

 

 

Oswald woke up to his name.

  He kept his eyes firmly closed, remembering that Ed could still be there. His ghost hanging around like a bad dream.

 

  “Oswald isn’t coping, Ivy,” Jim was saying. “Why didn’t you tell us that it was this bad? He can’t be running the underworld like this.”

 

  “It’s _not_ this bad normally.” Ivy sounded stubborn. “It was that fear juice thing. It made him afraid.”

 

  “Afraid that Nygma was dead.” Jim paused. “Is that really his biggest fear? Losing Nygma?”

 

  “It is.”

 

  “He really did love him, didn’t he?”

  “He did.”

 

  “Just…tell him that he needs us on his side. We need to co-exist.”

 

  “Okay.” There were footsteps and the door creaked open. “Wait – Detective?”

 

  “Yeah?”

 

  “Do you know what to do? About Oswald missing Ed?”

 

  “This is off the record. As a man who knows Oswald, and not as a police officer, I would suggest bringing Nygma back. Unfreeze him, if you can. If Oswald really loves him as much as I think, the only thing that will stop this mania will be Ed. And I knew Ed, once. I…” Jim sounded sad. “We had fondue at Lee’s apartment. Ed, or at least the man I knew, seems good for Oswald. They’re good together.”

 

  “Yeah, they are.”

 

  Oswald waited until he heard the door close before opening his eyes and sitting up, hand clutched to his chest as he struggled to breathe. Ivy came darting over, eyes wide with concern. “Need a minute,” he gasped, unable to stop the tears from falling.

 

  “Oh, Pengy.” For a second, she looked like his mother. Unconditional love shone in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I really am. But – did you hear what Detective Gordon said?”

 

  “I did.” Oswald took a few seconds to regain control over his rapid breaths. “And Jim’s right. It’s time. Time to bring Ed back.”

 

 

 

 

It happened exactly three months and four days after Ed was initially frozen.

 Two days after Oswald had made the decision.

 

  Before the actual un-freezing was to begin, Oswald shooed the others out of the room and stood before Ed’s ice prison. Two days ago, he had dried his tears and decided that whatever happened, he had to make a promise to himself. He’d promised himself that if Ed stepped out of line, if Ed tried to kill him, if Ed tried to topple his empire, Oswald would kill him. Really, truly kill him. He wouldn’t hire someone else to do it, either. He’d do it himself. And quickly. Ed deserved a merciful death.

 

  Oswald stepped forward and brought a gloved hand to touch the ice gently. “Hi, Ed,” he said, like had a thousand times when the club was empty and it was just him and Ed.

( _Hello, Oswald.)_

“I’ve enjoyed our little chats. It’s easy to tell you things, I’ve found. Not because you can’t reply. I’d rather you did answer me but…we can’t always have the things we want. Sometimes the things we want don’t want us back.”

_(I am so sorry for telling you that. I was the one behaving like a child having a tantrum.)_

He sighed. “Ivy tells me that I have to keep believing that you’ll come back to me. That you’ll forgive me. I don’t know if you will.”

 

_(I will. I do. Riddle me this, Oswald. If one person loves another, will they always forgive them?)_

  “This is our last conversation like this, Ed. What happens next  is up to you.”

 

( _The answer is yes.)_

  “God, I miss you. I miss being friends with you. I wish I could have told you I loved you before you met that dreaded Isabelle.”

 

_(You saved me from her. She was poisonous, Oswald. You saw that. Only you. It’s only ever been you.)_

  “Goodbye, Ed.”

 

 _(Goodbye, Oswald. For now._ )

 

  Oswald closed his eyes and sobbed, leaning against the ice, weighted down by the terrible, terrible things that had happened to him. He imagined Ed’s arms around him, holding him gently as he had done many times before. He was so enraptured by the phantom warmth that he completely missed the footsteps behind him.

 

  But Ed didn’t.

  Inside his mind, Ed screamed. He stared with unblinking eyes and screamed.

 

_(Oswald! OSWALD! PLEASE. LOOK BEHIND YOU. PLEASE.)_

  And then Ed’s mind collapsed in on itself when the knife slid smoothly into Oswald’s back.

 

 

 

Oswald was getting surprisingly experienced at lying still as people conversed over his head. He was in hospital, he thought. He could hear the machines beeping with a steady heart beat beside him.

 

  “What happened to the attacker, again?” Jim asked.

 

  “The official story is that we came in and shot him when we heard Oswald scream,” Ivy said.

 

  “And unofficial?”

 

  “Zsasz is keeping him locked up. We’re waiting for Pengy to wake up for further instructions.” Ivy’s voice broke slightly. “He will wake up, right?”

 

  “The doctor said that he’s a fighter. They’re positive he’ll wake soon. Luckily the knife didn’t puncture any major organs.” Jim yawned. “Ivy, you should get some sleep. It’s late.”

 

  “I don’t want to leave him alone.”

 

  “I’ll stay. Until someone else comes.”

 

  “Okay. Thank you.” The door clicked quietly shut and Oswald drifted back into sleep.

 

  The next time he woke up, Jim was talking again.

 

  “Are you going to hurt him?” He asked.

 

  “No, no.” The voice was rough, like the person wasn’t used to talking. “I’m never going to hurt him again.”

 

  “I’m going to leave you alone with him but trust me: if you hurt him, you will have a lot of people wanting to kill you.”

 

  “Will you be one of them, Detective?”

 

  There was a small chuckle then, “yes, I will.”

 

  The door shut and a sudden silence filled the room. “You can stop pretending to be asleep now, Oswald.”

 

  Oswald opened his eyes and found Ed gazing down at him, half-smiling. He looked beautiful. Iridescent. _Alive_.

 

  “I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation.”

 

  “It was nothing important.” Ed looked unsure. “Did you hear us?”

 

  “Yes.” Oswald sat up, ignoring the agony in his leg and back. “Were you telling the truth? You’re really never going to hurt me again?”

 

  “I’m going to try. Jim told me everything that’s happened in the past three months. He said that your greatest fear is losing me.”

 

  Oswald sighed and leaned back. “I don’t want to talk about that, Ed. Tell me something else.”

 

  “Okay.” Ed hesitated. “Close your eyes. Please.” Oswald did. “I have a confession. There was a time when all I wanted was to kill you. Nothing meant more to me than your death. But then I did kill you and…well, my life suddenly had no meaning. No direction. I thought I needed a new nemesis, a new plan, a new game. But no crime, no amount of teasing Foxy, would satisfy me. I always wanted _more_. I wanted…well, I didn’t know it but I wanted you. Then you came back and I had meaning again. Even if it was just exacting revenge, _again_. Then you froze me. Ivy unfroze me, by the way. She gave the command after you were hospitalised, yesterday evening. I know that because I heard her.” Oswald’s breath hitched in his throat. “I heard everything, Oswald,” he added, answering Oswald’s unspoken question.

 

  “Everything?” Oswald repeated. He opened his eyes and Ed offered a weak smile.

 

  “Yes. I tried to ignore you at first. I was still so mad at you. I still thought that you didn’t really love me. I thought that you killed Isabella for nothing. But you didn’t. I had three months to think and she wasn’t good for me, Oswald. And you were. Yes, she accepted who I was – celebrated it, even – but you did more than that. You helped me be better than I was. You made me better than I was. You created me, Mister Penguin.”

  Ed grabbed Oswald’s hand and squeezed gently. Oswald wanted to speak but couldn’t. His throat was thick with oncoming tears.

 

  “Before I met you, I was nothing. You were right – but for the wrong reasons. I wasn’t the Riddler, no. But I also wasn’t Ed Nygma. I was pretending to be a normal man, who could date the beautiful Miss Kringle, who could win her over. But then – then I met you and I realised that I could be more. I could be who I truly was meant to be. And I was meant to be yours, Oswald.”

 

  Oswald started to cry then and Ed looked alarmed. “Oh dear,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

 

  “Don’t be.” He smiled through the tears. “Is there any more you need to tell me?”

 

  “You once told me that your mother said that if you found true love, you had to run to it. So this is me running. I love you. D-do you still love me?”

 

  “You know I do, Ed.”

 

  “Could you say it?”

 

  Maybe if Ed hadn’t asked that, Oswald would never have believed him. He would have carried doubts that Ed didn’t love him to his grave but that…that one question confirmed the fact that Ed did love him. The _Riddler_ would never ask that, would never admit weakness like that. Edward Nygma would.

 

  “Come here,” Oswald said and Ed leaned forward. “I love you.” Oswald kissed Ed’s forehead. “I love you.” He kissed the tip of Ed’s nose. “I love you.” He kissed him on the lips and Ed smiled before pulling away.

 

  “I forgive you,” Ed whispered. “Always.”

 

  “Always is a long time, Ed.”

 

  “Good.” Ed kissed him softly and Oswald felt his heart tighten and shatter into a thousand pieces. Maybe, not a thousand. But a few. A whole half belonged to Ed, but there were other people, too. Ivy and Brigit and Victor and Zsasz and Selina and Jim and even Harvey.

 

  Maybe this reign of peace wouldn’t be just peace, after all. Maybe it would be love, too.


End file.
